Mist
by Anaiese Von Claire
Summary: A one-shot about Vermouth and why she's doing what she's doing by aiding Conan and being in the Black Organization.


** I am on a one-shot spree guyz! Gah! I really need to work on mt _Phantom Theif's a Kid!_ story! Derp. This is Vermouth's back-story...but I hope everyone who reads it will enjoy it and at least some will comment! **

Once upon a time there was a happy little girl with hair as white as a dove's wing. She was called Kasumi by her parents and she lived with them amongst the rich in a deep, green valley. She was known as a 'beautiful child', 'a future star', 'brilliant'. And she was. She grew to be one whom many admired for her acting, her character and beauty. She was also brilliant. She was taught by only the best tutors, but many things she taught herself. And many of things she learned through experience.

It was a misty morning, like the day she was born, that she saw her mother disappear before her eyes. They were breakfasting on the porch when her mother picked up her glass to drink. All at once she was stricken with a sudden illness and collapsed on the floor. Her father leapt up from the table and knelt beside his wife. He ordered the doctor to be called, but she had already passed before young Kasumi's eyes. The culprit of her mother's murder was discovered to be a family friend who had secretly visited earlier. This was pronounced by a young novelist-detective by the name of Kudou. The culprit was arrested and sentenced to prison. Before he left, Kudou strove to comfort the young child but the memory of her mother's death never left her.

The father and daughter mourned the loss of the wife and mother for many months. The father spent as much time as he could with his child to make her think life was normal and everything was okay, but Kasumi had very few days where she smiled anymore. She became quiet and secretive, and rarely trusted anyone.

It was two years after her mother's death and a day after her tenth birthday that she walked to her father's office to say goodnight and encountered another memory. She heard talking and a light streamed from her father's office. She pushed open the door because her father never minded her interrupting a meeting. She saw a man with a guy pointed at her father. Her father turned and looked her way with a scared look. "Kasumi, run!" A shot rang through the house. Kasumi ran. She ran and found the place that one of the maids had shown her to hide. No one except the two knew the place. She could hear footsteps coming quickly up the hallway after her. The man called and coaxed but she never came out. Near her hiding place was a telephone and once the man left, Kasumi called for the police. She told them that her father had been shot by some strange man and that he was still in the house. Then she heard more footsteps coming up the hall. Then man was back. He aimed his gun at her and she screamed, dropping the phone. He shot the bullet, but Kasumi never felt the sting. The servant that had told her where to hide jumped in front and was hit in the shoulder. The rest of the staff hurried in and overtook the man. Separating him from his weapon they tied him up so he was unable to move. One of the other servants finished the call to the police.

Kasumi lived by herself with the servants for the rest of the year then was sent to her grandparents in the country. They were just as loving as her original parents and they understood what she was going through. She came to really love them as her own. She was sent to middle school and was at first teased but chose to ignore it. She learned and adapted quickly. She soon began defending people from being subject to bullying and wouldn't allow anyone to be harassed. She knew the feeling of fear and wanted to protect others from it. Almost all of the guys in the school had a crush on her because she was so strong-willed, but beautiful and kind. However she was never interested in anyone.

One day, Kasumi returned home and found her grandmother sobbing in the kitchen. She had left the grandfather in the study asleep in a chair when when she went up to give him a sandwich she found him not asleep, but dead. He had died in his sleep. Kasumi was shocked. She didn't know what to do anymore. Numb, she cared for her grandmother and comforted her in her time of mourning. But Kasumi in turn sealed herself off from everyone else. After being out from school for three weeks she returned sullen and shy. No one understood or knew what had happened. A teacher pulled her aside after class as asked her what the matter was. She didn't say.

A few years later the grandmother died as result of heart break. Around the same time, her English teacher, with mounting concern looked into Kasumi's life and discovered what happened and the fact that she was living alone. She took her under her wing and Kasumi came to live with her teacher. She was taught English and to be more open, but she remained quiet. She was sent to a high school where she met another student much like her by the name of Talion. He was from America and was given the Japanese name of Hayato due to his personality. He was smart and very observant. He knew something about everybody. He had one brother who was named Jun. Kasumi didn't talk to them much, she thought that Hayato was mean, but she liked him because he minded his own business -in some respects. Jun was friendly and tried very hard to befriend Kasumi too. She really ignored him. One day Kasumi came home before the English teacher did. She retrieved the mail and saw a letter addressed to her. She took it to her room and opened it, reading its content. It was from a distant uncle telling her that he was ready to take her in as family. She wouldn't need to attend high school for he would teach her himself. "About the more important things." The teacher looked into his background, but nothing was found. He signed the custody papers and Kasumi moved into some apartments that he said were near his home.

Later a man in a black leather jacket appeared at her apartment. He told her that he was her uncle and he explained that he wanted her to have a job. He asked her what she wanted to do the very most. She told him that she loved to act and disguise herself. He said that was a perfectly splendid idea and he sent her to America to become an actor. He visited her and gave her other lessons on how to use weapons and about disguising herself. After a year of this, he set her up with her first 'assignment'. She was confused at first because she was to kill someone. She asked him why. He turned to her and replied, "You know, there are many bad people out there. Like those who killed your parents. Wouldn't you like to get back and give those types of people their just deserts?" Kasumi pondered this while the man turned and finished explaining her assignment.

That night she snuck quietly into the house of her assignment. And used every technique she had been trained to use. She saw her target and clipped down into the room to confront him. The man looked startled and started to make random excuses. Kasumi looked at the man. Thirty-years-old, maybe less. Possibly had children. A wife. A good job. And it was her task to end it all because he was an 'enemy of humanity'. She pondered this as she attached the silencer and positioned the gun at his chest. He was begging to be spared. She put her finger on the trigger. Then looked into the man's pleading eyes...

She couldn't. She couldn't do it. This was how her father died and she couldn't do it to another person. A shot sounded from behind her and whistled past her ear. It impacted the man's chest and he collapsed. Kasumi whipped around and saw the blue, cold eyes of Hayato. "Hayato-kun..."

"You are to call me Gin now. You are Vermouth. And my brother is Vodka. This is what we will refer to each other as from now on. The Boss told me to interfere because you were hesitating too long. He won't expel you because you're family to him, but you need to sharpen up." He turned to leave and added that she'd better leave soon too; she had spent too much time there. She was about to follow when she heard the door creak open from behind. A small girl stood there looking sleepy, but still surprised. Kasumi couldn't help but speak to the girl. It was the same thing that happened to her when she was a child but all that came out of her mouth was "A secret makes a woman, woman." She vanished out of the room in a second then joined Hayato and Jun in the waiting car. No one spoke as they drove her back to apartment. She entered her room and sat on the couch, baffled by that night's occurrence. She had shot her gun many times and hit many practice dolls, in fact she was an ace shooter, but when she had to shoot another person, she hesitated. It was found that she was a master of disguise but she was hard-pressed to kill.

It was one fateful night, just after a performance on stage, that Kasumi was assigned to another person. This time she did away with him herself but in the process was shot in the side. She fled into an abandoned building and hid. Suddenly she heard footsteps, she tensed. The footsteps became louder and she noticed that the person was running and breathing heavily. She pulled out her gun ready to fire when she saw that it was a young teenager. He ran around looking for something, what, she wasn't sure. But as she went to stand up and slide out before he found her and made a slight noise. In an instant he was on her. She ran, her disguise and injury only slightly hindering her. She ran outside into the rain and down the metal stairs. She saw another teenager towards the bottom of the stairs. When she reached the same level as her she aimed her gun at her. Kasumi heard the boy shout behind she and she slipped and fell back on the railing. It gave way and she felt gravity pulling her down, but the girl caught her by the hand and saved her. Then boy then ran down and aided the girl in pulling Kasumi back up. Then the girl fainted. The boy sighed then gently picked her up wedding-style. Kasumi was amazed. She asked him why he saved her. He told her it was because no one deserved to die and that one who does something should serve time for their crime. Kasumi wondered how he knew then decided that he had seen the corpse of the person she shot. He finished off by telling her that he would certainly catch her if he ever saw her again. Then he left.

She always remembered that boy and did some research on him and discovered his identity. Kudou Shinichi, son of the same novelist who solved the case of her mother's murder. She knew this boy was special and when she heard news of his alleged 'death' she was shocked. She thought that she had found some source of good in the world, but now it had been snuffed out. She continued in her missions for the organization, blindly following their standards but still doing her own thing; then she stumbled upon a young boy who labeled himself as: "Edogawa Conan, detective." This was no ordinary seven-year-old boy. She barely looked into him and realized that Kudou Shinichi wasn't dead, just hiding. And later it was the same with the scientist codenamed 'Sherry' whose family had developed the drug that had been given to the young detective. She faced him many times and he was never easy to fool. At one point she had a stand-off with an FBI agent and the young detective. That whole situation was too close for comfort in terms of the FBI. Akai even showed (a past accomplice that Kasumi had the privilege of knowing) and Kasumi ended up having to kidnap the young detective to make her get away. She was injured once again and had to crawl away to a telephone booth to call Hayato for assistance. He wasn't happy that she had made her own plans, but now she knew and really became interested in how the 'little detective' was going to be the 'silver bullet' for the organization she was in.

And so, often at night, she laid in bed at a hotel and pondered what life would be like not hunting people down and assassinating them. Then she would sleep and have dreams of her family playing and eating together once again. She hoped that the brave little detective might have a normal life more so than she did She wished that someday soon, the organization would be gone and life would be sweeter. That she could enjoy a day without being hunted by the police. She also believed that if the organization were gone that she could put her past behind her, and step forward into a different life. But for now she heeded the organization and did what the Boss told her to do. Kasumi never forgot her 'duties' to aid the FBI and CIA as well as that stubborn little detective while she could.

**Well I don't know if you liked it or not but I liked it. Just a little theory about why such an 'odd' person such as Vermouth was in the position she was. (Gah, now I only have one more Kaito and Aoko one-shot then I have to get back to my other story!) Anyhow, sorry for bad spelling/grammar. :3 Thanks for any reviews in advance! **


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